Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, Suzuka, 2022

Vettel ‘sad to have driven my last race at Suzuka after dream weekend’

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In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel is sad to say farewell to Suzuka for the last time.

In brief

Vettel “sad to have driven my last race” at Suzuka

Vettel enjoyed a strong final visit to Suzuka. He reached Q3 and despite spinning off at the start an aggressive strategy helped him equal Aston Martin’s best finish of the season with sixth place, beating Fernando Alonso by a tenth of a second.

“I got a very good start but then I collided with another car at the first corner,” he said of his tangle with Fernando Alonso at turn one. “I really could not see anything – I am not sure, maybe I aquaplaned or I made a mistake – but I lost all the positions I had gained and ended up last.”

An early switch to intermediate tyres was a “good decision”, said Vettel. “It was a great stop, then I pushed like crazy and managed to undercut most of the field.”

He described his final appearance at Suzuka as an F1 driver as “a dream weekend – for us to score eight points is a mega result.

“I feel sad to have driven my last race here, but it has been a wonderful weekend, and to all the fantastic Suzuka fans I can only say, ‘Thank you’.”

Haas got strategy wrong, Steiner admits

Haas delayed its pit stops for both drivers and paid the price as both failed to score. Team principal Guenther Steiner admitted “we were caught on our back foot today with the strategy.”

“We were too reactive and not proactive, and we ended up down the classification,” he explained. “It’s very difficult to make these decisions as we all know, and afterwards we’re always smarter with hindsight. We’ll review what we did and see that we do better next time.”

F4 USA and Formula Regional Americas announce 2023 calendars

The US Formula 2 and Formula Regional Americas will share six race weekends in 2023. They will race at NOLA Motorsports Park, Road America, Mid-Ohio, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Virginia International Raceway and Circuit of the Americas.

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Comment of the day

Another farcical Formula 1 title-decider did not go down well:

If a driver deserved to be champion this year, it was Max. Red Bull made a fantastic combo with Max and that car, and it was just a matter of time before Max was the champion this season. He was on fire.

But is was sad joke that for the second season in a row F1 managed to make a massive mess at the title clincher.

The fact that not even Max knew that they decided to award full points and so he was the new champion, tell a lot about the sad state of affairs.

The pinnacle of motor racing, the Mount Olympus of car engineering in racing, made cars unable to race under the rain, and the organisers are unable to made clear rules so everyone understand what’s is going on.

F1 became the WWE of motorsports.
@Ahoracio

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Mark Scott!

On this day in motorsport

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Istanbul Park, 2021
Bottas beat the Honda-livered Red Bulls to win in Turkey on this day last year

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “Vettel ‘sad to have driven my last race at Suzuka after dream weekend’”

  1. Congratulations Max. Sadly with all the half points or full points? / cranes on track / hours delay / throne room thing? etc. I hope it doesn’t detract from an utterly fantastic season and a very worthy champion. He has been brilliant this year. He has turned up at every round and basically been the man to beat without fail.

    We can and often do argue about this or that – but there’s no doubt this year he has been in a class of his own. Hopefully next year someone push him a bit further (if possible). Wherever he is I hope he’s enjoying a glass of Sake or Beer with his feet up, he deserves it.

  2. It’s very difficult to make these decisions

    No, Günther, they are rather easy.

    Slow car -> early stop
    Quick car -> later stop

    You know which category your car fits into, all you need to do is act accordingly.

    1. To be fair, at the time I thought leaving MSC out on wets was the right call/gamble. So many cars transferring to inters on a still very wet track, I was amazed no one slipped off and caused a safety car or at least a yellow which they could exploit.

      1. You only have to look at McLaren last week to see how staying out can be advantageous.
        No such luck this time.

        1. Exactly this.
          Haas openly admitted they were gambling on a SC – it just didn’t pay off.
          If they’d got it though, they’d probably have finished in the points.

          Well worth the risk, all things considered.

  3. I’ve said it before (admittedly before Seb started to become so outspoken about the environment) but I’d love to see him go to Super Formula when his F1 career is done. Powerful (and simple) cars, old-school Japanese circuits and a spread-out, undemanding calendar. He’d love it and would be a huge hit over there.

    Of course, whether travelling to Japan half a dozen times a year reconciles with his beliefs is another matter, even if it’s an improvement from his current schedule.

    1. 7 race events per year – not including the reasonably intensive ongoing testing schedule, of course…

    2. @jackysteeg Yes, he could race in Suzuka again if he drove in SF, but relocating to Japan with his family would be a must & I doubt he’d be willing towards this.

      1. He certainly wouldn’t want that, but would he need to relocate? I’m pretty sure Lotterer remained Europe-based while he was doing both SF and Audi LMP1 duties full-time. Maybe I’m wrong.

  4. Man. I forgot de Vries is older than Verstappen. A calm Verstappen already is the scariest Verstappen. I think people should start saying winning in one team is least respectable than having many WDC for multiple teams. F1 need Verstappen to be not in the fastest car.

    1. But for the fans Max already told us he isn’t going to race in F1 forever and he could go doing different things after his Red Bull contract as he doesn’t want todo a Michiel or Lewis record. (I don’t think he is going to win 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028)

  5. Why have full wet tyrws if they dont use them. Pirelli need to design the tyres that they spray outwards not only upwards. Tracks need to be changed to allow for better water escape.

    1. Pirelli need to defy the laws of physics to satisfy F1 fans?
      That’s essentially what you are saying.

      F1 need to accept that their constant fascination with being the fastest comes directly at the cost of versatility.
      The tyres are wider now – which means they displace and lift more water.
      The cars are longer and wider now – a larger object to punch through the air and more aerodynamic influence/disturbance.
      They are now utilising more under-car aerodynamic downforce – lifting more water up off the track.

      Most other series can race when/where F1 can’t/chooses not to.
      The problem is with F1 and their priorities – not the circuits, and not the tyre supplier.

      1. Well said.

        F1 cars are downforce machines, they are as clumsy at 50 mph as they are twitchy on uneven track surfaces.

  6. It was wonderful to see Vettel operate at is old best once more. He can leave F1 as a worthy champion and a wonderful human being. On the other hand, this race also showed that Vettel’s best is much higher than his average performance in other races, so I think retiring from the sport is a sensible choice.

  7. I disagree with COTD. WWE is scripted. F1 has lost the plot a long time ago..

    1. Can I borrow that one and print it on a t-shirt?

      1. Well by all means

    2. It’s like F1 tries to be serious but it ends up being a sitcom but a horrible one. It’s like a movie which is too serious. F1 needs to relax and not try too much. It may have decresed the value of the sport. Still watching it costs even more than before. Imagine going to watch a consert which costed you £200 and at the end you weren’t sure was it the real one or a very well maked up singer who has the same voice as your favorite singer. You feel betrayed or at least confused. If F1 wants to be a comedy then they can go full Mario Kart but if they want to be serious they need to up their game. I’m not saying it’s easy but few last years feel more like Home Alone 4 rather than Home Alone 1.

  8. Firstly, regarding Russell’s tweet: Recovery vehicles have been on circuits simultaneously with racing cars many times, but always under SC since 2015, most recently in Monza, so the only thing needed is patience with when to send out such a vehicle.
    The only issue was not waiting until everyone has passed Sainz’s stranded car before sending out the JCB.

    Da Costa & Aitken are spot-on. I couldn’t agree more with them.

    Re James Roberts’ tweet: Some upper limit is necessary, as races can’t last forever.

    COTD is also spot-on.

  9. Steiner sabotaging Mick. Pretty clear Mick is out and still Steiner feels the need to underline why. If I was Haas I would sack Steiner as he is too worried about being right than actually doing right. Magnussen is an average driver with a bad temper, Haas needs a promissing line-up.

  10. If I was the strategist for Haas, or any team outside of the points, I would certainly have left Schumacher out on wet tyres. The chance of a crash from someone on inters and another race stoppage at that time was extremely high, and that would likely have been the end of the race if it had happened. So they could have got a podium out of it (not full points, but still a podium) and the only risk was finishing 18th rather than just outside the points. It was the right call, in my opinion.

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